Publications

2016
Working Paper

Infrastructure, Incentives and Institutions

By: Nava Ashraf, Edward L. Glaeser and Giacomo A.M. Ponzetto

Cities generate negative, as well as positive, externalities; addressing those externalities requires both infrastructure and institutions. Providing clean water and removing refuse requires water and sewer pipes, but the urban poor are often unwilling to pay for the... View Details

Keywords: Motivation and Incentives; Urban Development; Organizations; City; Infrastructure; Zambia

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Samuel L. Hayes holds the Jacob H. Schiff Chair in Investment Banking Emeritus, at the Harvard Business School. He has taught at the School since 1970, prior to which he was a tenured member of the faculty of the Columbia University Graduate School of Business. He... View Details

10 Nov 2011
Working Paper Summaries

Spatial Determinants of Entrepreneurship in India

Keywords: by Ejaz Ghani, William R. Kerr & Stephen O'Connell

08 Sep 2016
News

Airbnb Plans To Fight Racism With Diversity. But Will It Be Enough?

October 2022 (Revised February 2024)
Case

Masdar City: Aiming for Sustainable and Profitable Real Estate

By: Boris Vallee and Fares Khrais

Masdar City broke ground in 2008 and was conceived by the Abu Dhabi government to be an international beacon of innovation in sustainable energy and real estate. It was also to be a profitable investment for the government. At first glance, the two goals pulled in... View Details

18 Sep 2012
First Look

First Look: September 18

PublicationsSidetracked: Why Our Decisions Get Derailed and How We Can Stick to the Plan Authors:Francesca Gino Publication:Harvard Business Review Press, forthcoming Abstract You may not realize it but simple, irrelevant factors can have profound consequences on... View Details

Keywords: Sean Silverthorne

June 2022
Teaching Plan

Pacesetters

By: Jeffrey J. Bussgang and Mel Martin

Teaching Plan for HBS Case No. 322-019. City Sealcoating CEO Keith Chaney had just publicly called out the Boston Chamber of Commerce for their slow progress on their supplier diversity program, Pacesetters. Established in 2018 by regional business leaders,... View Details

Keywords: Minority-owned Businesses; Procurement; Racial Wealth Gap; Diversity; Small Business; Restructuring; Contracts; Goals and Objectives; Performance Improvement; Performance Evaluation; United States; Massachusetts

May 2017
Article

Psychologically Informed Implementations of Sugary-Drink Portion Limits

By: Leslie John, Grant Donnelly and Christina Roberto

In 2012, the New York City Board of Health prohibited restaurants from selling sugary drinks in containers larger than 16 ounces. Although a state court ruled that the Board of Health did not have the authority to implement such a policy, it remains a legally viable... View Details

Keywords: Nutrition; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Public Administration Industry; Food and Beverage Industry; New York (city, NY)

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February 2023
Teaching Note

Bangladesh: Into the Maelstrom

By: Reshmaan Hussam, Sophus A. Reinert and Jaya Y. Wen

In the fall of 2018, Rohima Begum considered her options as the small island, or “char,” on which her family’s house rested slowly but inescapably eroded into the mighty Brahmaputra River in northern Bangladesh. Should she move to another island or into the city on the... View Details

Keywords: Climate Change; Geographic Location; Bangladesh

December 2016 (Revised February 2019)
Case

Kurt Summers: Investing in Our Chicago

By: Joshua Margolis and Michael Norris

In 2016, Kurt Summers, the Chicago City Treasurer, faced a decision with potential personal and political ramifications: whether or not to ask the city’s Mayor to join a class action antitrust suit against the city’s creditors for actions they took during the Global... View Details

Keywords: Personal Development; Career Journey; Leadership Development; Career; Leadership; Government and Politics; Personal Development and Career; Public Administration Industry; United States; Chicago

January 2018 (Revised May 2018)
Case

AT&T Managing Technological Change and the Future of Telephone Operators in the 20th Century

By: Daniel P. Gross and William R. Kerr

By the 1930s, AT&T dominated the American phone industry, serving 10 million telephones and employing over 100,000 switchboard operators. But beginning in the mid-1910s, the company began changing from manually operated switchboards to mechanical switching systems that... View Details

Keywords: AT＆T; Bell Telephone; Phone Lines; Phone Operators; Mechanical Switching; Layoffs; Technological Change; Transition; History; Innovation and Invention; Technological Innovation; Information Technology; Disruption; Change Management; Communications Industry; Telecommunications Industry; United States

During weeklong January-term trips to New York City in 2013 and 2014, students from across Harvard University studied cultural entrepreneurship: new ventures in fashion, food, fine arts, and design. Students explored how such ventures are launched, and how proximity... View Details

27 Feb 2007
First Look

First Look: February 27, 2007

Working PapersPublic Action for Public Goods Authors:Abhijit Banerjee, Lakshmi Iyer, and Rohini Somanathan Abstract This paper focuses on the relationship between public action and access to public goods. It begins by developing a simple model of collective action... View Details

Keywords: Martha Lagace

December 2022
Article

Entry Points: Gaining Momentum in Early-Stage Cross-Boundary Collaborations

By: Eva Flavia Martínez Orbegozo, Jorrit de Jong, Hannah Riley Bowles, Amy Edmondson, Anahide Nahhal and Lisa Cox

To address complex social challenges, it is widely recognized that leaders from public, for-profit, and civic organizations should join forces. Yet, well-intended collaborators often struggle to achieve alignment and fail to gain traction in their joint efforts. This... View Details

Keywords: Groups and Teams; Social and Collaborative Networks; Goals and Objectives

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July 2021
Case

Amazon HQ2

By: James K. Sebenius and Ben Cook

Amazon’s failed bid for a second headquarters location (“HQ2”) in Long Island City, New York offers many lessons for negotiators looking to avoid similar high-profile defeats in strategically important deals. The company’s project – which promised to bring billions of... View Details

Keywords: Buildings and Facilities; Negotiation; Public Opinion; Governing Rules, Regulations, and Reforms; Problems and Challenges

Article

Measuring Audit Quality

By: Shivaram Rajgopal, Suraj Srinivasan and Xin Zheng

In this paper, we document 45 specific allegations related to audit deficiencies based on GAAS, as detailed in 141 AAERs and 153 securities class action lawsuits over the violation years 1978–2016. Next, we use these allegations to validate existing popular proxies of... View Details

Keywords: Audit Quality; Audit Deficiency; AAER; Securities Class Action Lawsuits; Enforcement; Accounting Audits; Quality; Measurement and Metrics

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July 23, 2019
Article

Is the U.S. on Its Way to Becoming a Cashless Society?

By: Shelle Santana

The rise of digital payments, including credit cards, debit cards, and mobile payments systems, have contributed to the steady shift in payment practices among consumers. According to the FDIC, cash represented just 30% of all payments in 2017, and the percentage of... View Details

Keywords: Payment Methods; Cash; Credit Cards; Consumer Behavior; Change; United States